ETF Offers Emerging-Market Bond Exposure

A new WisdomTree ETF offers investors the opportunity to diversify their portfolios with exposure to emerging-market corporate bonds.

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Last week we looked at the new PIMCO Total Return Exchange Traded Fund ( TRXT), which is being offered as an actively managed, core fixed-income holding.

One indexed alternative for a core holding is the iShares Barclays Aggregate Bond Fund ( AGG).

But in addition to core holdings, a diversified portfolio should also include specialized exposure, the kind available from the new WisdomTree Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund ( EMCB).

EMCB is an actively managed fund, and WisdomTree has outsourced the management to Western Asset Management Company.

The fund will charge an expense ratio of 0.60% and will own dollar-denominated bonds.

(WisdomTree has its Emerging Markets Local Debt Fund ( ELD) for those seeking currency exposure, but ELD owns sovereign debt, while EMCB will own corporate debt.)

The process for the fund's construction and then ongoing management is what is referred to as top-down. Top-down management involves first looking at the big picture, which includes country fundamentals and prospects, then assessing various sectors. Of course, the process includes analysis of the companies and bonds chosen for inclusion.

As of Friday, EMCB appears to not be fully invested yet, as 21% of the fund is in cash. The largest sector exposure currently is oil at 28%, followed by metals at 15% and industrials at 13%.

Currently, financials only make up 2.5% of the fund, which is encouraging. Financial companies issue a lot of bonds, and it is common to see that sector feature very prominently in many index bond funds, but with an actively managed fund the manager can choose to avoid or underweight that, or any, sector.

I think this fund's low exposure to financials is wise, although, of course, such decisions can change at any time with an actively managed fund.

At the country level, the fund's Brazil exposure is its largest for now at 25%, followed by Russia at 17% and Mexico at 11%. Currently there is exposure to 14 countries in all, including small exposures to Venezuela and Jamaica, but, again, that could change at any time.

Many of the individual companies in the fund will be familiar. They include Petrobras ( PBR), Vale ( VALE), Vimpelcom ( VIP) and Lukoil ( LUKOY).

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In trading on Thursday, shares of the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund ETF entered into oversold territory, changing hands as low as $73.31 per share. We define oversold territory using the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which is a technical analysis indicator used to measure momentum on a scale of zero to 100.